[Diary entry: 2 January 1771]

Robert Fairfax was preparing at this time to return to his home in England, Leeds Castle, where he lived until his death in 1793 (GW to Jonathan Boucher, 3 Feb. 1771, CSmH). He became the seventh Baron Fairfax when his brother Thomas died in 1781.

Rumney apparently brought a quantity of the “Best Bark” for Patsy Custis. Peruvian bark, also called cinchona, was one of the popular eighteenth-century remedies for epilepsy as well as for malaria. Before Rumney left Mount Vernon, he also furnished Patsy with a fresh assortment of pills, powders, and drops (receipt from William Rumney, 24 June 1772, ViHi: Custis Papers).

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